Windows 10Installation

How To Back Up Your Files When Windows 10 Fails To Start


If Windows 10 fails to load you still can back up your important files using a Windows installation media and USB flash drive.

1. Plug in a USB flash drive to your PC and start the computer from a Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 installation media.

2. On the Windows Setup page press SHIFT+F10 key. If for some reason you cannot do that, click Next. On the next page do not click Install now. Click Repair your computer instead, then go to Troubleshoot, click Advanced options, and then select Command Prompt.

3. When the Command Prompt window appears, type this single word without spaces:


and hit ENTER.

4. In the Notepad window click File, and then click Open (or just press CTRL+O).

5. In the dropdown menu with the file types select "All Files" instead of "Text Documents (*.txt)".

6. Navigate to the This PC folder (it's called "Computer" if you are using a Windows 7 installation disc). If the previous steps were done properly, the USB drive should be displayed in that folder among other storage devices.

7. Using the Notepad dialog box, find and copy the files and folders that you need to back up and paste them to the USB flash drive as described below:

In the Notepad:


A) In the top menu click File.

B) Click Open....

Open file

C) Find a file or folder that should be backed up (for instance, I need to back up my "Documents" folder along with files and subfolders that it contains. So I'm opening "This PC", where the "Documents" directory is located).

D) Right-click the file or folder and select Copy.


E) Go to "This PC", open your USB flash drive, right-click somewhere inside it and select Paste.


F) Wait while the data is being copied.

G) Repeat the same steps for an each folder or file that you want to back up.

Note, that you should NOT actually open your files in Notepad (even text documents!). The idea is to use the "Open" dialog box of Windows Notepad as a graphic environment for file management. So avoid double clicking anything there!

8. When every valued file is copied, close the notepad window and turn off the computer.